Nearly 60 years ago, Sen. Russell was on a Soviet-era train during a fact-finding mission to Russia. Russell was a chairman of the Armed Services Committee and considered as one of the most influential senators of the U.S. until he passed away in 1971 after 38 of service.

According to the Fund for UFO Research (FUFOR), they obtained documents revealing that Sen. Russell was travelling on October 4, 1955 at around 7 pm together with his two aides in the Transcaucasus region when the incident took place.

Sen. Russell is said to have looked out of the window and saw two disc-shaped UFOs taking off from an area close to the railway tracks. He then reportedly called over interpreter Ruben Efron and aide Lt Col Hathaway to the window, with them both witnessing the two aerial objects took off.

He and the aides told the US Air Force and security agencies at the US embassy in Prague about their sighting. They also reported the same thing in Czechoslovakia, but the report was kept confidential.

After meeting them, US embassy air attaché Lt Col Thomas Ryan filed a top secret Air Force intelligence report about the incident on October 14, 1955.

Lt Col Ryan described the witnesses as highly reliable American observers who saw an unconventional craft. According to the report, a disc ascended almost vertically at relatively slow speed. Its outer surface seemed to revolve slowly to the right while at 6,000 feet above the ground. The unusual craft’s speed increased as it headed north. The second flying disc-shaped object was seen making the same actions approximately a minute later. Its take off area was around 1 to 2 miles south of the rail line.

CIA agents interviewed the three witnesses as well as one unidentified witness. The documents say Mr Efron reported that the UFO glide without noise and no exhaust glow or trail was visible.

The fourth unnamed witness said that one UFO had a slight dome, and it had a white light on top. All witnesses said that it had a pinkish-white glow and moved up vertically. The glow moved slowly around the perimeter from right to left direction, providing the appearance of a pinwheel.

US Secretary of State John Foster Dulles was briefed about the sighting on October 18, 1955. The FBI penned a memo on November stating that the testimony of Lt Col Hathaway would support the existence of a flying saucer.

The details of the sighting were leaked to a reporter from the Los Angeles Examiner, who had a chance to approach Sen. Russell.

He responded to journalist Tom Towers saying that he had discussed it with the affected government agencies and they thought that it was not wise to publicize it that time, so he felt sorry that he can’t talk much about the matter.

Documents from the CIA, FBI and Air Force remained classified for 30 years before being made available to the public in 1985. But it was until FUFOR got them under a Freedom of Information Act request that the details surfaced.

FUFOR chairman Dr Bruce Maccabee said that the long-secret documents show for the first time that one of the most influential government officials witnessed and reported a UFO. He thinks that the men would have advised not to talk about it. He added that these documents are unique because it shows how the CIA took it seriously.